I was lucky enough to be invited by my dearest to share The Weekend Wine Lunch here, which for 5 courses plus amuse bouche and petits fours and excellent wine pairings plus a glass of welcome champagne, is at HKD928 per head surely EXCEPTIONAL value, amid the torrent of declining standards in service and food quality currently afflicting Hong Kong dining.
The only area of shortfall I could find, and to be honest, it is a big shortfall, was in the cheese course, which was a major disappointment.
First impression/ ambience/ overall. Very politely greeted, and seated initial impressions are of a business justifiably very sure of what it is doing.
There is delightfully simple and bright lighting and thankfully no music, both of which make for pleasant conversation. The menu is clearly expressed and easy to understand. There is no pretension or attempt to introduce obscure or meaningless ingredients. Seating was comfortable and tables large, meaning that wait staff are not constantly rearranging plates and interrupting dialogue, a constant irritation to the serious diner in Hong Kong. Another major plus, is that given the restaurant's confidence in its own product, one is not here constantly bothered with insecure childlike questions such as "how is everything?" "Is everything OK and to your liking?", which normally elicits a "it was fine until you interrupted me" from yours truly. So Amber delivers in all the generalities.
Food
Bread and butter- an exceptional selection of 5 from sourdough toast through olive ciabatta. 8/10
1. Amuse bouche- a series of 4 separate and perfectly executed expressions of the 4 main tastes- salt, a Parmesan biscuit with cream; sweet, a pumpkin purée cigar; bitter, a sperified onion purée with Guinness, and Sour, a fermented black rice cracker with lemon brunoise. All were well executed and tastefully presented in individual wooden cases. 8/10
2. Starter: my accomplice chose Amberjack, served raw over Stracciatella, with a fennel crisp. Delightfully fresh , although the fennel
Crisp seemed a little pointless. I chose to pay an extra HKD260 for the Japanese Kohlrabi, delightfully fresh and crisp and marinated in lime, served with Uni and Caviar. Both dishes 9/10.
Middle Courses- we chose Duck foie gras, served in a delightfully intense duck and cep broth. I chose the wonderful Korean abalone, beautifully presented, perfectly cooked and served with an intense oxtail broth. Deeply aromatic and Truly memorable-9/10 for both.
Main Courses- the Challens duck breast allegedly wild shot, was perfectly cooked medium (I often wonder how many customers would order rare chicken). The pumpkin tortellini were delicate, but the intensity and clarity of the duck jus accompanying was truly exceptional.9/10. The Line Caught Pollack, confit in olive oil had exceptional texture, and was served on a lovely stew of coco beans cooked in a ham broth 9/10.
Cheese selection- this was a let down, and frankly sub par for a restaurant of this stature. Formulaic slices of Tome, bleu d'auvergne and a characterless and flavour less Camembert. Why not a proper cheese trolley, stacked with properly managed and matured cheeses? The ultimate sin though was that as I was bored with the bread and prefer a lighter approach to the cheese course, I requested some crackers. The restaurant gave me a couple of inches of Carr's water biscuits! Given the cornucopia of Scandinavian crisp breads or even carta do musica and the ease with which they can be made, shouldn't a restaurant of this class be doing that? 1/10
Desserts: the quince poached in vin jaune and the chestnut Mont Blanc were both simply delightful, and charming to the eye and the stomach.9/10
Petits fours- again simply delightful with a bitter dark chocolate ganache, tart green apple sorbet, a tiny fruit tartlette with airy Creme patisserie, a raspberry and a delight of red sperification, was truly excellent. 10/10
Coffee- the single Machiato was hot and kept me awake all night so it must have been good.
Wine pairings were exceptional-
Oliver meunier champagne was proper coming from epernay, although I prefer something drier. The whites, the German riesling and the lefaieve burgundy were delightful, while I found the Reds, a Mercurey and a Medoc pedestrian and not up to the quality of the white. We paid an extra hkd210 for the 2007 carmes de rieussac, Sauternes which was a true delight with the cheese as it always is. 7/10.